Ever wondered what happened when Flash Gordon got back to the office and had to fill in his expenses?

That thought started me on a long writing journey. The result is a new ongoing sci-fi serial – The Able Series.

Jim Able works in outer space. Although he has returned to duty after a disastrous encounter on a previous assignment, he is determined to enjoy his work. His boss may be on his case, but he still manages to drink a little too much, to eat dubious food, and to smell the alien flora…[more]

Episode One through Three are available.
Episode Four, A’NIR, is on its way.

In the meantime there is some really neat bonus materials to go along with the series.

I try and celebrate all twelve days of Christmas. There’s nothing quite like it. It breaks my heart to see Christmas trees thrown out on Boxing Day. Don’t people realize there is still more fun to be had?

I’m going to try and write as much as possible between the various parties, gathering, outings, and naps. There is a sequel to The Problem with Uncle Teddy’s Memoir that won’t finish itself!

The start of an adventure, the new eBook ABLE is the first episode of an open-ended serial. Follow the story of Jim Able as he encounters new civilizations, outmaneuvers his boss, and samples strange cuisines. Oh…and pays large sums of money to aliens.

Like all good sci-fi heroes, Jim Able works in outer space. Although he has returned to duty after a disastrous encounter on a previous assignment, he is determined to enjoy his work. His boss may be on his case, but he still manages to drink a little too much, to eat dubious food, and to smell the alien flora.

In the first episode, Jim is sent to Turcanis Major V to solve a mystery but with strict instructions not to start a war. Will he find the alien calling himself “Edward of Turcania”? Will he discover who has qualified for the First Contact fee? Will he accidentally foment a revolution?

With the help of a local female scientist, Madhar Nect, Jim investigates the religious minority of TMV’s main moon. He calls on all his patience, determination, and improvisation to finally secure an interview with a Regdenir.

As I created the look of The Problem with Uncle Teddy’s Memoir, my goal was to make the letters and office notes look as real as possible and to mirror the standard for manuscripts in Uncle Teddy’s manuscript pages.

There were limits to how close to reality I could get. For a manuscript page, for example, I had to leave room for the actual page number of my book and leave out the page number that Theo Kingman would have typed on it. For the notes and letters, I used handwriting style fonts. Each character has his or her own font—admittedly, a compromise. Scans of actual notes and letters written by different friends would have been wonderful to use. Maybe next time…

Now, when you look at the digital edition, some pages behave as images—for example the coffee-stained page of Uncle Teddy’s own notes that features in the book and on the cover—but when you look at this page on an eReader, the page is presented small size. Luckily, you can double tap it to bring it up larger. If each handwritten note or letter had been a scan of a physical note or letter, you’d also have to double tap the page!

To avoid double tapping the notes and letters, I had to face issues with the fonts themselves. Not all eReaders will allow the author or publisher to embed all the fonts used in the text into the digital copy of the book. What normally happens is that nonstandard fonts are substituted with generic fonts common to all devices.

The eReader designers have good reasons to do this. When the size of the text changes, the pages must be “reflowed.” What does that mean? You’ll notice if you increase the size of the text, your page count goes up. Of course! There are fewer words to the page, therefore there are more pages. The e-book must be “reflowable.”

Consequently, in the reflowable digital edition of The Problem with Uncle Teddy’s Memoir, the appearance of reality is lost. Notes might spread over two or three pages. Handwritten letters spread sidewise when you turn your device. Inevitably, the book does not look as I originally intended.

I have addressed my “reality” problem in two ways:

First, I created a reflowable e-book for those who really want to read the book on their Nook or Kindle and don’t mind that it won’t look quite right.

Second, I created a fixed-format e-book, designed for reading on the iPad. This edition comes much closer to my original intent. The manuscript pages reflow, but the individual letters and notes adhere to their proper structure.

This is why, when you look for The Problem with Uncle Teddy’s Memoir online, you’ll see four different ISBNs:

978-1-935751-24-3—the paperback

978-1-935751-25-0—the reflowable edition, available for Kindle, Nook, and other devices

978-1-935751-26-7—the iPad edition, available only through the Apple iStore.

And, for those of you who really, really need to hold the hardback edition in your hands,

978-1-935751-27-4 is available directly from www.scribbulations.com—signed of course!

So, you’re thinking e-books have replaced print books… Here’s a book definitely read best in print; the look of every page is part of the story!

Technically, this is an epistolary novella–a story told through letters, notes, e-mails, and manuscript pages. And if you didn’t know it, the author is doing something rare, and, in sci-fi, even rarer.

The characters will stay with you in a different way, because they are always writing in their own voices. And you’ll remember the mysterious, magnificent, terrible place called Aleronde.

Physically, the book stands out from homogenized sci-fi stock because of its unusual format: 8.5×11 inches.

You’ll find this a memorable read and a tactile and visual experience, complete with coffee stains. You know…like reading used to be!

Until July 4, 2015 you can PRE-ORDER The Problem with Uncle Teddy’s Memoir on Amazon.

Theo Kingman inherited a problem: great-uncle Teddy’s unpublished memoir of an impossible life in the fabulous place called Aleronde.
Why is Theo sending only certain chapters to publisher and childhood friend, Curt?
Why does Curt find Teddy’s descriptions disturbingly familiar?

In copied letters, collected emails, office notes, and of course, the pages of Uncle Teddy’s own manuscript, Ed Charlton pieces together a tale of empire, conquest, slavery, betrayal, romance, adventure, and mystery. Is it speculative? Is it even fiction at all…?

“This witty experiment follows the correspondence surrounding an enigmatic manuscript. Deftly balancing the manners of the modern world with the towering revelations of great science fiction, Ed Charlton’s novel is an adventure for the mind and serious fun!”Jason Ronstadt – The Odd Way Home